


Rumors of My Death (were greatly exaggerated)

by notbug (KageKashu)



Category: Trigun
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Character Death Fix, Gen, Other, Pre-Slash, probably
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-05-10
Updated: 2014-05-09
Packaged: 2018-01-24 04:43:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,978
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1592069
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KageKashu/pseuds/notbug
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Out of his mind with grief, Vash did a thing. That thing comes back, unexpectedly, to haunt him in the best of ways. Nick may be tiny now, but he's still dangerous.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Rumors of My Death (were greatly exaggerated)

**Author's Note:**

> Probably not canon-compliant. As a fix-it fic, that's not unusual. :)

Children shriek. It's a fact of nature, so Vash didn't think too much of it when the child came blasting out of nowhere (because this happened all the time, really), with the word "Tongari!" screamed at the top of the child's lungs. He even had a fraction of an instant to reflect on the use of that particular word, before the tread of said child's shoe caught him right between the eyes. It was Wolfwood's nickname for him, but it was just a word. It was a word that anyone might use, referring to Vash, because it was an apt enough description of his hair. Before he had time for more than that fraction of an instant's thought, his glasses went "crunch" and so did his nose, and Vash dropped like a sack of rocks. 

The boy didn't slow down in the slightest. The foot on his face was the beginning of a vicious assault. The insurance girls (no longer part of the Bernadelli Insurance Agency, so perhaps he should think of them now as the news girls) tried to pry the kid off of his face, but all they managed to do was change his method of attack. Instead of Vash's face, the boy went for his kidneys, then the back of his knees, his ear, the small of his back, and so on and so forth, as unstoppable as a greased monkey. Vash corrected himself, when a small, booted foot connected with his groin, an _angry_ greased monkey. 

It was Millie who finally managed to tug the boy off of him, as he lay on the ground, curled around himself in a defensive ball. The boy cussed venomously at them as the much larger woman hefted him easily aloft. "You asshat, you shithead, you fucking creep, you..! How dare you?!" he howled, and paused a moment to gasp for breath, only to continue a moment later with a victorious crow of "I fucking finally found you!" 

Hands still clasped firmly to the injured center of his universe, Vash managed to sit up. "You know me?" he asked, his voice something between a gasp and a whine. He was both suspicious and concerned, in addition to the purely physical pain, because he couldn't recognize the boy. There was something familiar about his face, but... Vash was excellent at recognizing people, even years and years after the fact. He just didn't forget faces, at all. It stung, that this boy's face was so familiar, yet he couldn't tell who he was. Perhaps he had known the kid's parents? 

"Fuck," the boy sighed, and Millie shook him. 

"Don't cuss," she scolded. 

Tension left the boy's wiry little body, and he went almost entirely limp in Millie's grasp. "I can't believe you forgot me," he complained, his dark eyes staring flatly across the short space between them. "I guess I should have expected this, I mean, I woke up in the dirt, so... You probably thought I was dead, huh, Tongari? It makes sense, because I probably should be dead. You can put me down, now, big girl. I'll behave." For all his viciousness, moments prior, neither of the girls had a single mark on them; all of the violence had been directed at Vash. And, as he claimed, the boy was suddenly on his best behavior. He grinned charmingly at them, brushing his black hair - just a touch too long to be neat - away from his eyes. "Hellifino what you did, Tongari, but it was super effective. It's like the last six years just melted away. Literally," the boy chuckled, both sarcastic and amused at the same time. "I can hardly imagine you getting into more trouble than you already do, but if this got out, you'd have nowhere to run. Between that reinstated bounty of yours and seekers of youth, the world would hound you to the grave." 

Six years. Vash blinked at the boy. Six years. Mentally, he aged the face. In six years, that face would still look so very young, but would thin out a bit. When he still didn't recognize the face, he aged it even further, until in his mind's eye, he saw a face that he knew - a scruffy face with too wide of a smile, too sharp of a tongue, but the dark eyes stayed the same. He swallowed. "It can't be." Was this terror? Was this grief? He wasn't sure what he was feeling, but... "I buried you," he said, still trying to understand what he was feeling. 

The young, young, far too young face of his old friend twisted sourly. "Yeah, I know." The girls, behind him, looked even more confused than Vash himself had been, moments ago. 

His lip trembled, and he felt tears well up in his eyes, and the boy's eyes widened in mild alarm. "You," Vash barely managed, gulping once as the tears began to drip. "W-wolfwood!" And he lunged forward, practically body-checking the much diminished figure of his friend in his rush to embrace him. Wolfwood, the one person who ever stood anywhere nearly so high, so close, as Rem, in Vash's eyes. Although the boy attempted to retreat, he stood no chance against the unbridled joy bursting in Vash's heart. "You're back," he sobbed against the small, struggling form. One person. God had seen fit to give him back _one person_. And Vash wasn't sure if there was anyone he wanted back more than he wanted Wolfwood. 

Over their heads, the girls' confusion intensified. In his arms, the miniature typhoon twisted more violently, but no one can escape the crushing embrace of _love_. "Let me go, you freak! Tongari!" Wolfwood wailed, still trying to escape. Once he failed several more times, the small form fell limp again. Possibly due to exhaustion. 

Vash scrubbed the side of his face against Wolfwood's thick black hair, and the tears didn't want to stop, even though he was so happy. "You're alive," he cheered, his voice sounding wet even to his own ears. The hair beneath his cheek was starting to feel rather damp as well, but _still_ , it was Wolfwood, alive, in his arms, even if that last part sounded a little weird, even in his own head. 

"Priest-san?" muttered Millie, ponderously. "Didn't Brad-san say that..." She and Meryl looked at each other, then back down at Vash and the impossible bundle in his arms. Slowly, he became aware of their stare - though they weren't the only ones staring, as they were still on a semi-public street, and Vash was used to causing scenes, so _that_ staring didn't bother him. It always felt far more caustic when the girls did it, like they were poking at him with prickly things. "Vash-san," began Millie, her voice trembling in a way that made Vash's insides still, "did Brad-san... Did he lie to us?" 

He didn't think that there was any right answer in this situation. However, instinct was good for something, and he felt the smile on his face widen impossibly - along with his eyes - even as he began to laugh nervously. _Act like an idiot and they'll forgive you,_ he thought. "W-what do you mean?" 

"You knew." Meryl said it quietly, and Vash's arms tightened around Wolfwood, even as he felt one of her skinny arms wrap around his neck. " _You knew!_ " It was all he could do to hang on for dear life. He wasn't about to let Wolfwood go any time soon, either, so he was pretty sure that he was going to die this way. For a city girl, Meryl was deceptively strong, and his neck was going to give out at this rate. "You knew, and you didn't tell us! You jerk, how could you?!" 

He was about to die, but things looked much better than they had five minutes ago. After all, he would be dying in the presence of those he loved. 

* * *

Nick (because it felt weird to think of him as Wolfwood when he looked like a small child) ate like any ravenous street kid that Vash had ever seen. He just hoped that those salmon sandwiches didn't make a reappearance, because it was starting to look like it had been a while since Nick had managed a proper meal. Even as an adult, Nick never seemed anything less than starving, and he wondered why that was. Even when they traveled together for days, and Nick had been eating regularly - proven by the fact that Vash _saw_ him eating - he _still_ ate like he was starving. 

Although, he thought, the salmon sandwiches brought to mind a question that he was always afraid to ask himself. Where did the salmon for the salmon sandwiches come from? Gunsmoke was all desert; the little water on the planet was put there by its people, and the Plants. So, as much as Vash liked the salmon, he couldn't help but wonder where it came from, and why it was so _cheap_. For that matter, he was pretty sure that he had never seen a single fish since The Fall. However, that way, his thoughts turned dangerous, as he knew that if he kept pondering the mystery he would never be able to enjoy salmon again. It would go the way of tuna and maki rolls, things that he could no longer enjoy, because they had no ocean. 

Nick obviously had no such qualms. In a manner that Vash had only seen him do when it was just the two of them, Nick talked and gestured, not even pausing to clear his mouth for the words, or his hands when he made pointed gestures that Vash had difficulty interpreting. "So," he said, through a mouthful, "I knew it had to be you. I mean, it isn't like Knives," swallow, "couldn't have done it," and here he paused to refill his mouth, "but I can't imagine him doing anything nice on purpose." Nick was obviously blaming his newfound youth on Vash. As far as he could tell, he was also blaming the fact that he was alive on Vash. "My heart should have stopped," he pointed out, waving a half-eaten sandwich at Vash. "I knew it would happen, even when I took the medicine, you know. I just didn't know how much longer I had. That's why I didn't want the kids to know." He paused long enough to bolt down some water. Water dribbled down his chin, and he didn't even bother to dash it away. "December was a bust. I was scavenging, all the way 'til I found Granny again. She was shocked, to say the least. And I heard all about you. Saw you on the news, looking worse for wear, saw the damage from the battle. Anyway, when the incident happened, I figured that you were my best bet on, well, anything. Anyone coming after me will have to deal with the chaos permanently in your wake, so it's better than staying at the orphanage, where they can threaten the kids. So, that makes it better all the way around, right, Tongari?" 

"Incident?" Vash muttered, right as Meryl asked, "Why would they threaten the kids?" 

Nick chewed for a moment, eyes rolled back as he thought. "Well... Technically, those would be the same thing, I guess." He glanced around the small restaurant, making sure that there was no one close enough to overhear his next words. "Another thing I'm blaming on you, Tongari," he said, pushing away his plate. "It all comes down to a certain incident that happened a couple months ago. Before that, I thought I was hearing something, like the cheerful murmur of a thousand voices, and... it wasn't loud, and I put it down, initially, to everyone being relieved that everything was over, and they were all getting on with everything, and then one night, I heard something screaming." 

Not someone, Vash noted. Something. "Oh," he said. "It was one of them, wasn't it?" _Them_ being one of the many plants that had survived Knives's rage. When Nick nodded, Vash grimaced. "And it somehow got out that you could hear her?" 

Nick shrugged unapologetically. "I went to see what was wrong. I got found out when I was trying to fix the problem. As soon as word got out... Well, I'm sure you see how it is?" His tone was grim. 

Yes, Vash could see it, unfortunately. A human with the ability to hear plants, much less at a distance - when Vash himself had to be close to speak with his family - would be an extremely valuable commodity, not just on Gunsmoke, but to the Federation itself. That single incident, it sounded like, proved how valuable he could be. "And people can't keep their mouths shut, can they?" 

"We live in a hard world, Tongari. You're just going to have to accept it." Nick eyed his plate again, and without missing a beat, pulled it close. This time, he ate more slowly, still mostly satisfied from his first rush at the food. "I hope you know that this means I'll be traveling with you again." 

* * *

Vash had tried to say no. After all, a child had no place alongside the 60 Billion Double Dollar Man. No one was safe next to him. It was something he had grown to accept as time went on. The Nick of before would have been alright. There had been something obviously inherently dangerous about the man he had been, that even the slimiest of lowlifes had been able to recognize. The Nick of now, however, was an adorable child, and while he was undoubtedly still a rigorously trained assassin, there was no way anyone would be able to see that in him. 

Not to mention, he seemed to tire easily, just like any child. But, like a grown man, Nick didn't like to admit that he was tired. "Fatigue is for sissies," he told Meryl, when the girl stated that he must be getting tired. Vash ended up carrying him anyway, though he didn't mind. After all, Vash the Stampede might have to walk a lot, but that didn't mean that Nick had to as well. 

Little did he know, this was the beginning of a trend that he would later come to bitch about (but secretly enjoy); however, those first few times, when Nick was too tired to protest being carried, he leaned, limp and trusting, against Vash's shoulder, and it made Vash so happy... Sometimes, like now, it even brought tears to his eyes. Deep down, he was still certain that Nick's death had been his fault, and yet he was the only person the boy seemed to trust. 

* * *

Livio the Doublefang stood, stock-still, in the middle of a busy thoroughfare, watching a familiar face twist with irritation. Nico-nii, as he had once been, snapped and snarled at the man attempting to manhandle him into a dark alley. Honestly, Livio couldn't give two flying shits about the man. The one he cared about was Nick, who was apparently a bit too small for his usual tactics to work. What Livio couldn't decide, however, was whether he should rush over there and... Well, in a moment, he was going to rush over there anyway, but who should he grab first? Nico-nii, he decided. If nothing else, the boy would probably appreciate it. Then he could push the man harassing him into the dark alley and decide what to do with him there. 

Several minutes later, Livio and his Nico-nii walked out of that same dark alley, talking jovially and ignoring the blood their footsteps left behind them, the sound of a gunshot still ringing in their ears. The locals all ignored incidents like this. It was the Federation police that gawped at them, and the fact that they had only made the vaguest pretense toward hiding what had just happened. The gun was in Nick's hand, anyway. Livio hadn't much stomach for killing anymore, but unlike Vash, he was pretty sure that he could still do it if the situation warranted it. Nick, on the other hand, didn't seem bothered by it at all. 

"Human filth," he explained, shrugging. "Vash is one of the best people I've ever known, but... I can't quite adopt his morals. Some people just need to die, and even if it's not my place to judge, that won't always stop me. And _this_ is why I need to keep a gun. This kind of thing is happening way more often than it used to." They paused, looking across the street to where the Federation police were still staring at them. "Not that I want to be detained any more often than I have to..." 

They took off running, and the police, with their soft and untested bodies, fell quickly behind. "Than it used to?" Livio asked. Sure, Nick had been a pretty man, once you got past the scruff and the wit that he had held as a frail shield between him and the world, but it was hard to believe that _anyone_ would have been dumb enough to try that with a man who carried the Punisher on his back. The cross had been heavier than the combined weight of even two of Razlo's Tri-P, and although Livio had managed to wield it, the Punisher was proof that Nick had been stronger than him. 

Now, the kick of a pistol was enough to nearly knock Nick's tiny frame off of his feet. It had to be a big change, and Livio was curious as to how Nick had come to be like this. When he asked, Nick shrugged and grimaced, and finally said, "It's Vash's fault." Then he yawned hugely. "On that note, I need to find Vash before he gets worried. And... uhm... Don't mention what happened just now, would you? He'll get worried."

**Author's Note:**

> I don't expect to update regularly, but if you have questions, comments, prompts, that you'd like to submit anonymously, you can come to [my blog](http://asknotbug.tumblr.com) and drop me a line.


End file.
